OSA International Council Awards Optics Grants for 2009

Grants include increased support for ICTP, funds for scientific meetings in developing nations

WASHINGTON, April 29—The Optical Society’s International Council recently approved new funding for a variety of programs designed to advance optics and photonics in developing nations. The grants from the first review cycle in 2009 total $27,000 for seven projects around the world, including the Winter College on Optics held at the Abdus Salam International Center for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) in Italy and several topical meetings on optics in countries like Peru, Colombia and India.

As a global organization, OSA’s International Council is a leadership committee within the society dedicated to supporting programs that foster the global optics and photonics community, particularly in countries with developing optics communities. The council provides financial support for conferences held in developing nations, as well as travel grants to OSA Fellows lecturing in developing countries.

“The International Council at OSA takes seriously its commitment to bring the science of light to developing nations,” said Satoshi Kawata, chair of OSA’s International Council. “By enabling researchers, students and lecturers from these countries to attend scientific conferences, we are not only assisting them in their scientific careers, but are diligently working toward advancing optics and photonics throughout the world.”

OSA has supported the Winter College of Optics at ICTP since 2000. This year, the society is increasing its support to $10,000 annually for the next four years. The Winter College on Optics is held every year with the goal of providing the background information necessary to understand and follow the most advanced scientific literature in optics. Participants from around the world, including developing countries, attend the college to hear lectures by international experts, participate in internal seminars and discussions and see lab demonstrations. OSA’s grant will support the college and enable the participation of attendees from the developing world.

In addition to the ICTP, OSA is providing funds to support optics conferences held in South America, Asia and Africa. Following is a list of six other grants approved by the council so far this year. All grants are given to support travel to and participation in the meetings for students and young researchers.

2nd Conference on Spectroscopy and its Applications Conference (SPECTRA 2009)Lima, Peru, March 2009

Active Learning on Optics and Photonics (ALOP)Bogota, Colombia, June 2009

International Symposium on Optomechatronic Technologies (ISOT)Istanbul, Turkey, September 2009

META'10: 2nd International Conference on Metamaterials, Photonic Crystals and PlasmonicsCairo, Egypt, February 2010

Speckle 2010La Plata, Argentina, September 2010

About OSA
Uniting more than 70,000 professionals from 134 countries, the Optical Society (OSA) brings together the global optics community through its programs and initiatives. Since 1916 OSA has worked to advance the common interests of the field, providing educational resources to the scientists, engineers and business leaders who work in the field by promoting the science of light and the advanced technologies made possible by optics and photonics. OSA publications, events, technical groups and programs foster optics knowledge and scientific collaboration among all those with an interest in optics and photonics. For more information, visit www.osa.org.